Public spaces that are open, flexible and actually fun – is this really Hong Kong?
- The Belcher Bay and Wan Chai promenades are among a handful of new areas along the harbourfront that buck Hong Kong’s long trend of over-regulated public spaces
- Critics argue that they are the exception rather than the rule, given neither was developed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department
When legal scholar Christopher Szabla moved into a flat in Hong Kong’s Kennedy Town area last autumn, he noticed an intriguing new plaza taking shape on the fast-gentrifying neighbourhood’s waterfront.
“What caught my eye was a bunch of colourful shapes appearing there,” he says of the space that would become the Belcher Bay Promenade. Bright blue shipping pallets and plastic toys were scattered about, all free for the public to move around as they saw fit.
Since the promenade opened in October 2020, it has drawn near-constant crowds of people from the surrounding neighbourhood.
“The plaza can get ridiculously active,” Szabla says. “On weekends, walking inside can feel like entering a tornado of little kids pushing around the rolling pieces of furniture, skateboarding or just running in circles around the empty space.”
The promenade’s openness and flexibility stand in contrast to the nearby Belcher Bay Park, a lushly forested but highly regimented green space.
“In some ways [the park] has more space but it’s also laid out in a way that makes it difficult to deviate from a trail, sit anywhere that isn’t pre-planned as a bench, or do much other than use exercise equipment in prescribed ways,” Szabla says.
